What Lies Beneath
by Monochromatic Pylon
Summary: The first time she saw Gokudera Hayato, Miura Haru decided the guy was her sworn enemy. 7YL-5986


**Title: **What Lies Beneath

**Character\Pairing:** 7YL-5986

**Rating:** PG

**Warning: **Possible OOC-ness and general suckiness.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

**Notes: **This fic was inspired by a GokuHaru fanart I found somewhere on the net. Find the link to the fanart at my profile and I'll appreciate it if someone can tell me who drew the fanart. :)

**Edited. 05-13-2009.** (Thanks to my lovely beta **Nijuu**)

---

The first time she saw Gokudera Hayato, Miura Haru decided the guy was her sworn enemy. Not only he was obviously gay for Tsuna, her one and only love, he was rude and blatantly cold-hearted. The only thing that sat well with her was his loyalty and reverence towards Tsuna; the means to protect said heir of Vongola even at the cost of his life.

---

The night after she reached Italy, Haru could not sleep. She had been on her feet since six in the morning, with the girls dragging each other across the city to shop. By the time she reached her room, she was in a state of exhaustion in which sleep, though desperately longed for, was impossible to reach.

For a while she endured the sudden stuffiness of the richly decorated guest room, tossing and turning in her large bed. Then she gave up, throwing a shawl over her shoulder and slipping quietly down the stairs.

The mansion was large and she had promised herself to wander all over the place the moment she saw it. It was not unlike what she had dreamed as a child, a place where her prince charming would live.

The façade was built in Renaissance style with its grand staircase and oak door, gilded grate and Corinthian column. The interior was a mix of various styles, little bits of Bohemian, Rococo and Renaissance with oriental touches here and there.

The place was as old as the Vongola family was, Reborn had told her. And Tsuna would own all this; she wondered how someone could get used to such grandeur.

She walked noiselessly along hallways and stairs until she stepped into a windowless corridor walled by mirrors draped with golden acanthus leaves on either side. The mirrors gave illusions of space beyond their endless reflections of each other. It was beautiful in an _Alice in Wonderland_ sort of surrealism feel, but looking into the mirrors at thousands of her reflections made her dizzy.

She moved on, walking through other doors and corridors noiselessly. Some of the corridors were dark and she could occasionally catch stray sounds permeating from behind the doors she passed. And then, she reached an open door that led to a high-vaulted ceiling room. It was dim, with only lamps from the corridor casting shadows inside, but Haru could tell it was a lovely room, with fleur-de-lis wallpaper and a painted ceiling. Bohemian chandeliers hung sumptuously down from the ceiling over a lone grand piano in the center of the semi-circular room. Windows lined the walls evenly, showing nothing but blackness of the world outside.

The room had a weird nuance that felt almost eerie, like that corridor with mirrors.

"What's with this mansion?" she wondered aloud and walked to the piano.

She opened its wooden hatch and pressed one key testily. A hollow and beautiful sound resounded across the room. It sounded completely different from the one she had at home. She shuddered to think how much this finely-tuned piano must cost.

She pressed another key and another. The sound it produced somehow delighted her. Haru curiously sat down and settled to play a piece she knew.

She hadn't taken piano lessons since grade school, and years of absence in practicing made her fingers clumsy. She skipped and skittered the tune and tempo, but was satisfied with how beautiful it sounded to her ears. She felt she was falling in love with this lonely piano.

"What are you doing here?"

A sound of someone speaking behind surprised her to a jump. She halted her fingers.

"Don't wander around as you please," that someone spoke again. This time she recognized the familiarity of the voice. It belonged to no other than Gokudera Hayato.

She stood and took a deep breath, before turning around to confront the newcomer. Of all the people she could bump into in this huge place, why did it have to be him? Why not Tsuna? She did not even have the chance to see her savior again after that one time when she just arrived. He was always busy.

"Don't scare me like that!" she said, her face lifted up to meet Gokudera's eyes. The silver-haired man was standing by the door, one hand placed casually on the frame. The other hand was holding an unlit cigarette between his forefinger and thumb.

"The guards aren't doing shit, letting someone wander around without noticing," he said.

She creased her eyebrow, somehow used to his vulgar use of words by now, and said, "Well, I didn't meet anyone on the way here. Look, I'm sorry if I woke you. I'll just be on my way."

Haru was in no mood for another argument with him, determined to walk past him and through door. She intended to trace her steps and return to her room somewhere in this mansion—she hoped she had not forgotten the way—but he just had to open his mouth.

"Your piano playing sucks," he sneered, lowering his hand to grope his black trouser's pocket for a match.

She stopped in her tracks halfway to the door and said in indignation, "As if you can play better!"

Gokudera lit his cigarette, staring while its head caught then replaced his match. He brought the cigarette to his lips and took a drag of smoke. "I'm out of practice," he said.

Haru snorted, totally unladylike, but she could care less. "Your smoke-head will die because of lung cancer one day," she muttered while making a gesture to clear the wisp of smoke he exhaled to the room.

The Italian ignored her and deliberately walked past her. She turned her head to follow his movement. He was taking her previous position, sitting in front of the piano.

Silence.

Then.

He lifted his hand and played.

It was what she tried to play earlier, piano solo for Emperor Concerto second movement. Haru had loved this piece for its simplicity and lyrical delight. And although she did not want to admit it, Gokudera played it better than she ever would.

It started with an incredibly soothing tune. The beautiful sound echoed eerily across the room, preening and tender, spell-binding in its melancholy.

She never knew he had it in him, yet she guessed she did not know much about Gokudera herself. He looked different when playing piano, she decided. His face was shadowed by various silhouettes, but she could see the taut in his brows. Thin trails of smokes exuded from the stick between his lips; his posture was one of concentration and detachment at the same time, if that was even possible.

And all too soon, it was over.

Gokudera cut off the music abruptly. He stilled himself, lowering his hands to the chair at either side of his body. Haru lifted her eyebrow. Was he shaking?

"What's wrong?" she asked, hesitantly taking a step forward to the man.

Gokudera did not answer her, instead he groped again inside his pocket for a portable ashtray. He opened the metallic lid and snubbed his cigarette.

Standing and replacing the ashtray, he growled to her, "Go to your room, woman."

A twitch made itself known to her eyebrow. "What is your problem anyway?" she confronted him.

Again, he did not answer. Gokudera moved to walk past her in angry steps, disappearing through the open door and hallway.

Haru was left to stand alone in the dim room, unable to decide whether she should be in confusion or indignation. She weighted for the latter.

"What's with him? One moment he was playing the piano perfectly then another moment he was angry?" she muttered to no one in particular and walked out of the room herself.

---

The next day, she saw Tsuna at the head of the table as she walked down for breakfast with Kyoko at her side. He smiled at them when he saw them.

Haru noted everyone was there, including the ever-so-elusive Rokudo Mukuro and solitary Hibari Kyoya. Yamamoto was sitting at left side of Tsuna and Bianchi was sitting with Reborn on her lap at the right side of Tsuna. Gokudera was sitting as far as possible from his sister, at the end of the table.

She took a seat at one of the two empty spaces, beside Bianchi. Kyoko followed suit.

Various conversations were carried across the table as she ate. And after a while of surreptitious staring and quick glances, Haru noticed there was something amiss with Tsuna. The usual cheerful demeanor he mustered was nowhere to be found. Tsuna was as gentle as he always was, speaking and smiling to everyone, but she saw there were shadows and weary lines under his eyes.

Haru was about to speak when a feminine voice sounded from beside her.

"Tsuna-kun, are you alright? You look tired," said Kyoko, worry lacing her words. It drew the attention of everyone seated near the head of table.

Tsuna turned his head to stare at Kyoko. A faint blush colored his cheek slightly. Haru bit her tongue at the sight.

"I-I'm alright. Just a bit overworked," Tsuna stuttered out an answer.

"You should take a break," Kyoko said again, then smiled radiantly as if a bulb lighted in her head and added, "We're planning to tour around the city again today. How about you join us?"

Tsuna widened his eyes slightly and looked at Reborn. The miniature hitman turned his face to look at Kyoko and Haru. His face was as unreadable as usual. "He's free today. You can ask him to escort you anywhere you like," Reborn said and turning back to face Tsuna again. "Escorting women is training, too."

---

In the end, Haru chose to stay home. Bianchi and Chrome both had made an excuse that resulted in their absence, too. So, it was just Tsuna and Kyoko.

Somehow, it had turned out to be an accidental date for them.

She sighed as she lie in her bed, staring at the ceiling listlessly.

She was in a beautiful room, sparse and airy with hand-blocked wallpaper the color of sand, its Venetian fourposter white curtained and valanced. A glass door opened to a balcony overlooking a beautiful garden. Yet, somehow she did not feel as excited as she was the first time she saw this room.

Earlier, she had feigned headache to be spared into going. She sighed once more and turned to her side. Although she was lying about her headache, she really felt tired. Jet lag and lack of sleep had taken its toll.

Closing her eyes, she let herself be pulled into deep slumber.

When she woke up, the sun had tilted slightly westward. She sat up in her bed and rubbed sleep off her eyes. Her cell phone clock read 3:45 p.m. She had slept like the dead for five hours.

Yawning one last time, Haru got up and made her way to her suitcases. She rummaged for a T-shirt, faded jeans, and underwear, before entering the bathroom attached to this guest room to take a quick shower.

"I look like a ghost," she said to her own reflection, standing to inspect herself after showering and dressing. The bathroom lamp merely exuded a dim orange glow, yet even under this kind of illumination, her face looked pasty pale. She wondered how she would look under the sun.

Sighing loudly, she walked out of the bathroom to search for foundation. She hated how it felt against her skin, but it would give slight color to her face.

It took her awhile to find what she wanted, because she forgot where she had packed her cosmetics. She rarely used them, but knew she would need them here, so she had thrown them in when she packed for this trip.

The party for Tsuna's official announcement as the next Don Vongola was to be held in the next two days. When she heard about the news, she felt ecstatic and sad all at once. She was happy for Tsuna, yet sad because she knew from now on she would not be able to meet him as easily as she could before. It became harder and harder to see him as time went by. She missed the days when they were in middle school.

A prickling sensation grazed her eyes and she realized she was crying.

"Wh-what is this?" she said aloud.

But the tears would not stop. Haru wiped her eyes with her hands repeatedly and ran back to the bathroom. She placed her foundation at the side of the sink and let the water run.

She took a deep breath to steady herself, feeling the tears continue to roll down. Peering to the glass, Haru gasped. She looked like a mess and she did not even know why she was crying.

She cupped her hands under the running water and splashed her face, again and again, until her eyes stopped producing tears.

Later, after she calmed down and sat, staring into nothing for awhile, she realized why she was crying.

It was heartbreak.

---

That afternoon, after gathering herself to some semblance of order, Haru walked down the stairs and hallway to find a way to reach the garden under her balcony. It was nearly dinner time, but she did not feel like eating. She hoped her friends would just dismiss her absence because she felt unwell.

Kyoko's room was right beside hers. Haru did not know whether or not they had returned, but judging from the lack of sound, she knew Kyoko was not inside.

Stalking though numerous hallways blindly, she finally came upon an open hallway. Rows of door leading to unknown rooms lined the hallway at one side and at the other side was an English garden with sparse greenery and shrubs, colored with various kinds of flowers.

Haru stepped onto the earth. Her decision to take a walk had been correct. She had always been an outside person, the feel of slight wind and the cool draft of evening air against her face improved her mood more than anything. Plus, it was a beautiful garden.

It was slightly disconcerting, because wherever she wandered in, she found no one was there. A big mansion like this supposed to have numerous staff and she had met none save for the one escorting her to her room at the first day and those who served at meal time. Yet, whenever she came back to her room, she would find her bed was made and her floor tidied from whatever mess she invoked.

So, when she saw a wizened elderly gardener delving through the bushes with pair of scissors, Haru was tempted to call out. But she remembered in time that she could not speak Italian. And most of the staff here seemed to be Italian.

Feeling slightly dejected at her refusal to learn Italian a few years ago when her father had told her to, she resumed her walk. The garden was very large, with high walls enclosing them at the sides. She did not know where to go or what to see, so Haru let her feet take her wherever her instinct told her. She was careful to remember the way she came, because she did not think she could ask for directions in Japanese.

Walking with delight between beds of delphinium, hydrangea, and small strawberry-colored buds she did not know the name of, Haru came to a red door, pushed it open—and stood mesmerized. The rest of the Vongola mansion's garden, though unmistakably beautiful, was pale in comparison to its rose garden. There were roses as red as split blood and roses of untainted white. There were roses of beige, delicate pink of a baby's fingernail, and mysterious golden. Some of them climbed the stone wall and a few sat demurely across the arbor in small earth-colored pots.

Haru stepped inside. Never in her life had she seen such an image, as if it came straight out of her _Beauty and the Beast_ picture book. Beast's rose garden, said to spellbound every traveler who had taken a look, could look just like this.

She turned and bumped into something hard. The impact propelled her to take two steps backwards. She blinked a few times and realized she was staring at someone wearing a black suit.

"I thought you said you were sick." Again, a familiar sound.

Haru rolled her eyes, wondering inwardly why she always bumped into him. She lifted her face to green eyes and silver hair. "I was," she answered.

Gokudera Hayato, who for once did not smoke in her presence, creased his brows and said, "Didn't I say 'don't wander around as you please'?"

"I think it's up to me where I feel like going. Tsuna-san hasn't said anything about not walking around this place," she said defiantly. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Gokudera answered in unveiled irritation, "I was looking for you, stupid woman. My sister came to your room and didn't find you. She forced me to look for you or I would have to face promised torture of poison cooking. A gardener saw you heading here."

"Bianchi-san did?" Now it was her turn to crease her brow. Gokudera's sister, a beautiful Italian who was in love with Reborn, was a sensitive person despite her outward appearance. Perhaps Bianchi knew Haru was experiencing heartbreak and was afraid she would commit suicide? Haru knew she would not commit such a foolish act, but noted to herself to thank Bianchi later.

"Yeah," he said. "And now I know why. It's time to return, woman."

Gokudera grabbed her hand and proceeded to drag her. "Hey! I can go back on my own," she said, but her protests fell on deaf ears.

He stopped for awhile to say, "And risk a melting stomach?" He looked at her, then added, "No, thank you," before resuming his stride. Haru tottered clumsily behind him, her arm stretched in front of her, grasped almost painfully.

"Stop it, Octopus Head! It hurts!" she cried.

This time Gokudera stopped dead abruptly. Haru bumped into his back. Muttering intelligible curses, she glared up as he turned to face her. He had released her hand, but the pressure still left a slight prickling sensation on her skin.

A silence stretched on as they stood facing each other. They had stepped out of the Rose Garden. Here, she felt the wind had picked up slightly and the sky was turning red.

Gokudera was the first to break their silence.

"You have been crying," he said almost tenderly.

Taken aback by how he sounded almost gentle, Haru struggled to keep her face from showing it. What's with this person, she thought inwardly. She had never known he could show this kind of face.

"I'm not," she whispered slowly. But she knew the evidence was there. She had washed her face and combed her short hair, yet remained unable to hide her slightly puffed and red eyes.

He sighed. "Look," Gokudera started. "You have dedicated yourself to him for eight years without him giving the slightest hint of reciprocation. Why the sudden distress now?"

Haru gave him a look that clearly said 'can you refrain from rubbing salt on an already hurting wound?'.

"How can you understand what I feel right now, stupid head?" she said. "I've known for years; Tsuna-san only has eyes for Kyoko. And I've decided to end this right now."

He clucked his tongue in distaste and said, "You know, I actually admired your loyalty to him. We, his guardians, are loyal to him because of what we see in him and what he has done for us. If he is a king, then we will bow to him. Not out of protocol or reverence, but out of our love for him."

The stupid guy just could not seem to leave her alone. "Don't say anything anymore," she almost whispered and turned away because she felt certain moisture threatened to fill her eyes again. "My feelings and yours...they're different."

She did not know how long they stood there, with her full-fledge sobbing pouring out once again and him standing behind her.

By the time she heard Bianchi's voice calling for her, she had stopped crying. Gokudera, hearing his dreaded sister's voice coming closer and closer to them decided to step away from the place. But before he left, Haru caught his muttered apology behind her.

---

The next few days passed as a blur to her. After their last encounter at the rose garden, Haru had not seen Gokudera again. He was strangely absent at the dining table and Haru knew better than to ask for him.

He was Tsuna's right hand man; he could be busy considering the day of Tsuna's accession was drawing nearer. That, or he was truly avoiding her. She knew the former made more sense. What reason did he have to avoid her anyway?

And she did not want to face him anytime soon. Crying in front of him, showing her weakest moments to him, was shameful.

Before she realized it, the night they were to name Tsuna as the rightful Vongola Decimo arrived. The event was held inside Vongola mansion, in a grand ballroom she had never once visited during her aimless wanders around the place.

Dressed in a black strapless dress made of silk that flowed down her form, Haru stood quietly at the side, watching as the event unfolded. Many people filled the room, each finely dressed and perfumed. She knew almost nobody there, save for the occasional familiar faces slipping in and out of the crowd.

Kyoko and Bianchi stood beside her earlier, but both had left her, wandering into the mass of people. Bianchi was determined to find Reborn, and Kyoko had said she wanted to see her brother.

Haru downed several glasses of sweet wine carried by passing servants as she watched Tsuna ascent to the dais. By the time she felt a presence beside her, she was feeling slightly lightheaded.

It was Gokudera Hayato. The man she had not seen for days.

Both of them did not say anything, watching as the almost sacral procession was carried out. It ended with Tsuna giving out his speech of decree for his famiglia and his gratitude towards various people who's names she did not know.

After that, it was the time for the party to start. Haru saw Tsuna walked down and head straight to Kyoko. The crowd parted for him and whispers resounded across the room as he asked for Kyoko's hand in the first dance.

The first dance was waltz. Haru knew because Bianchi had whined about how she had to lose her time with Reborn because he had to oversee Tsuna's lesson several weeks prior.

Gokudera eyed the woman beside. "Can you waltz?" he asked.

"Somewhat," she answered distractedly. Her eyes still had not left Tsuna and Kyoko. "I took lessons a few years ago."

Then, he did something that greatly surprised her.

Gokudera turned to her; hand stretched in a gesture to ask for her. "May I have the pleasure of the first dance?" he said slowly.

Haru lifted her face to his, not even trying to hide her surprise. She glanced down to his hand and up to his eyes again. His face had taken the same look she saw that time at the rose garden. It suddenly made her lightheadedness worsen. She wondered why he was acting so out of character recently.

"Just don't make me end up bickering with you in the middle of it," she said nastily and put her hand in his.

Gokudera settled his lips in thin line of irritation, but made no attempt to counter her remark. "I'll try," he merely said.

And so they went together for the first time in their lives, to dance to the tune of 'Valse des Fleurs'.

A great deal had happened to Tchaikovsky's orchestrated showpiece to fit into a waltz suitable for ballroom. The sumptuously orchestrated tune reduced into a well remembered loving waltz from Gokudera's childhood.

It began with a slow pleading tune, to allow the dancers to smile in each other's arms and relax. It had been awhile since the last time she had stepped into a waltz. And it was only with her dancing teacher, this would be the first time she made use of her lesson. Gokudera let the fall of his steps guide Haru slowly.

Drinking in the smell of smoke and cologne, of personified scent which emanated from the man, she felt sudden paranoia hit her. Haru was alternately looking down to the front of Gokudera's suit and their joined hands. She was having a minor freak-out; Gokudera must have sensed it, because he said to her: "Relax, woman."

"Don't call me that, Octopus Head," she retorted back, but tried to do just as he said, calming her heart and trying to dissuade her nervousness. It was Gokudera in front of her, not the handsome prince charming from her childhood, she reminded herself.

Gokudera was leading her easily; she tried to move with him lightly. Soon the familiar phrases sunk into preening and swirling tunes, drawing the dancers into a world of intoxicated reality. The irresistible sound was gathering them, trying to sweep away what reality she had. She grasped his hand a little bit more tightly.

She was under no illusion. The glittering chandeliers, the gilded mirrors with their golden shaded drapes, the feel of silk against her skin as she was swept into steps, the melancholy violin, might be things of romance. But this was Gokudera dancing with her, while her one and only love was dancing with another woman.

Haru eyed various couples around the room. One of them being Tsuna and Kyoko wrapped in an intimate waltz. They were staring at each other; Tsuna's eyes had the longing she had always seen when he was staring at Kyoko. Heartbreak did feel unpleasant, she thought to herself, even if you had known it all along.

She shivered slightly as Gokudera accidentally brushed her back, bringing her down into the reality in front of her. She lifted her face to finally look at him and was surprised to find he was placing his eyes on her. Neither of them spoke. He checked, reversed, and she followed him perfectly on instinct. Their eyes met again, this time she held her breath as he closed his arm around her once more.

She felt her heart careening dangerously into her gut. This was no romance, she reminded herself. Her once sworn enemy broke their eye contact. Haru casted down her sight and did not look up again for the rest of the dance.

She almost sighed in relief when the music ended.

---

As the night wore on, Haru felt her headache was starting to bother her. After one last dance with Lambo, she walked out of the ballroom to a terrace opened to the garden.

She stepped into the garden, standing there for awhile. She was as cold, as still, as stone.

Tsuna and Kyoko looked nice together. She was happy for them. She remembered the first time she saw Tsuna, she thought he was a baby harasser. Teaching Reborn—she thought he was Tsuna's little brother back then—to threaten people with death threats and various other things that a toddler should not know. But then, he had to go out of his way to save her. That was the day she realized she had found her prince charming in this boy who was so much more than meets the eye. Tsuna was meek and weak-hearted, but sometime he had a unique strength that belonged only to him. Yet, from the start, no matter how she declared her affection and care, he only had eyes for one person.

She decided to walk further into the Italian garden, whose statues and arbours gave shelter even in the bright moonlight. She found a fountain framed by trellis of bellflower and sat by its rim.

The night was beautiful with a full moon and stars overhead. The stars were different from what she remembered seeing in Namimori. That line of thought flooded her with a sudden homesickness. She missed her simple town where people converse in a language she was familiar with. She missed her family and their simple-minded assurance. She missed her old confident and cheerful self.

"I want to say 'what are you doing here?', but it feels so overused by now," Gokudera Hayato said, walking slowly towards her.

Haru sighed and moved to make a place for him at the fountain rim. "What are you doing here yourself?" she asked.

He took her offered place beside her. "I'm looking for you," he said, sitting with his back slumped and hands placed above his thigh.

She turned to him. "I was a little bit drunk, so I thought a bit of fresh air would do me good," she told him. "Bianchi-san asked you to search for me again?"

"Well, not exactly," he said.

Then a silence reigned over them, because neither knew what to say again. The times when they could have a conversation without starting a verbal war was rare. She did not want to ruin the atmosphere by making unnecessary remarks. She always wondered why she seemed unable to hold herself back from countering his words with nasty remarks. She hoped he would shut up just this once.

"Uhm, look, Haru," he suddenly started.

The shock of his use of her given name properly for the first time after knowing him all these years must have been very apparent in her face, because he growled and reverted back to calling her 'woman' instantly. "Look, woman," he said again. "I just want to apologize for that evening in the rose garden."

Ignoring his attempt to restore his 'don't want to address you properly' habit, she smiled up at him. "Well, how about starting with dropping that 'woman' thing. I'm going to appreciate it if you call me properly by my name, Gokudera Hayato."

He grimaced slightly and said, "It wasn't right for me to say something like that to you at a time like that. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," she stated lightly, because honestly she found no reason to let their bad blood continue if she could have a civil conversation with the man.

It was to her delight that she could catch the ghost of smile that played on his lips. He looked better without his constant scowl, she decided.

And for the umpteenth time that night, he did something to surprise her again. She had not realized how close they were, until he leaned in to kiss her. A slight brush against her lips, a chaste kiss, a kiss that was over too soon before she had the chance to register it.

Haru blinked once, feeling at loss.

"Hahi? Wh-what are you doing?" she blurted out stumblingly after awhile. "But Haru thought you were gay?"

Gokudera twitched his brow and muttered, "Stupid woman," before bending his head to kiss her once again.

FIN

---

This story is a bit too cliche to my liking, but comments and concrits will make me happy. ^^


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